This is a blog of the various forms of mail advertisements that are targeted toward the elderly.
Each entry represents a mailing from a company that sends material to my father, who, as he was falling into dementia, fell for a lot of these "cures", "newsletters", "hot stocks", etc.

Monday, July 19, 2010

The approach of this is to promote its pills, which promise to extend your life (I got a kick out of the picture of a gray haired guy giving a piggy back to a gray haired lady -- gosh, these pills must be great!). These newsletters appeal to the desire to stay young -- fixing backs, relieving sluggishness, preventing colds, and feeling young. It will only cost you $60.

This company shares an address/identity with Bio Medical Solutions, Nutricell, Threesource, and Feenix LLC.

If I interpret the websites related to this miracle drug, it is basically fish oil, like the stuff you can buy at the grocery store. Want to try fish oil? You can do it at a lower cost by buying it locally.

Take a look also at the salaries of itst administrators -- too high for what this organization does.

What is the gimmick they offer? Free mailing labesl of course. Well, Dad has received thousands of mailing labels from organizations like this. They tracked his address when he moved this past year and now he has lots of address labels that we simply have to throw out. What a waste. Why do they do this? Because it is an attempt to make you feel guilty -- you may want to donate if they are giving you something. Problem is, so many organizations use this approach that those on the mailing list get far too many labels.

Today brought a swarm of mail. We got another appeal from "Dr. Sjuggerud" for getting Social Security benefits that we didn't know we were entitled to (and actually are not entitled to -- but it will cost us $49 to find out).

The address of this scammer:

Attn Dr. Sjuggerud
P.O. Box 925
Frederick, MD 21705-9913

Look familiar? Yep -- we get other "great" offers from this same group -- just under different names.

The first one will lift your testosterone, and the second one will keeping you from peeing all night. This all comes from Hampshire Laboratories. These "cures" according to the disclaimer are not "cures". So what are they? A waste of a lot of money. $119.95 plus shipping for fixing your testosterone and $119.95 to fix your peeing.

So who are "Hampshire Laboratories"? and William J. Hartman? There is not much available. Hampshire Laboratories sells herbal remedies that they claim (without evidence) fix your health problems. The promotional materials even have reference lists that make things look very scientific.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

These folks don'w give up. Time to renew, again. Since we've never subscribed, it is interesting that we keep getting the renewal notice. This newsletter promises:

"CONQUER you dreaded urge to go" [Buy UroLogic for only $279.70]

"The truth about male menopause" [Subscribe and learn other medical news]

"Toe-curling, PRIMAL SCREAM SEX is yours for the taking!" [Buy Ultra Turbo HG for only $99.70]

The mailing address is the same as many other "cures", but a different "company" name:

Real Advantage Nutrients
P.O. Box 970
Frederick, MD 21705-9913

The problem, of course, is that you won't know the ingredients of these pills until you receive them (and only if they feel like disclosing them), so you do not know if they are safe drugs or whether there are interactions with any other medicines. This is an especially important issue for the elderly because they are more likely to be already taking prescriptions, and the chance of interactions is high.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Well, if you believe today's mail from the "Elite Stock Report", you are not familiar with stock returns, risks, and how stocks are marketed. Today's mailing is from the promotion company "Elite Stock Report", with "Colin McCabe", editor.

The major holder of this stock is George Dory (who is the Director, President, Secretary and Treasurer), and the Tuffnell is incorporated in Nevada by one of the many registered agents, Val-U-Corp, who serve as the registered agent (a.k.a. fronts) for 4,337 companies, mostly "blank check" companies.

The company being touted, Tuffnell, according to its auditors "As discussed in Note 1 to the financial statements, the Company's absence of significant revenues, recurring losses from operations, and its need for additional financing in order to fund its projected loss in 2010 raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern. The 2009 financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty" [from its most recent 10-K report].

The request is for a "gift of $40, $60, $80 or more" that is a renewal. But, of course, we have never donated to this fund, so it isn't really a renewal. But it is an attempt to get money from the elderly who believe in paying what is due on renewals of any tyep.

So who is the AFP & CC? We've seen them before: This is the organization that solicits quit frequenty to supposedly provide funding for surviving family members of fallen police officers.

How much do they provide? According to Charity Navigator, http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=6610 :

This is a well-orchestrated method of extracting funds from the elderly, most of whom would like to support our police force and believe that they are doing some good. Unfortunately, this is not an organization that does anyone any good -- except the fundraisers. So sad.

Friday, July 2, 2010

We received an envelope today from "The Senior Citizens League" with a return address of Washington, DC 20090-7173. Inside was a newsletter with an imitation post-it note, asking us to sign the "local area petition" to get Congress to pass the Emergency Social Security COLA so that folks receiving Social Security will receive $70 more every month.

Apparently, this organization is promoting getting the COLA adjustment for Social Security, even though the automatic COLA does not apply because there has not been inflation. You don't get a COLA adjustment in any year where it is not necessary because here was not inflation. This is a formula that has been in effect since 1975. [ The good news is that when we had deflation, social security payments were not lowered.]

And what do they really want? $10 mailed to:
TSCL Local Area Coordinator
P.O. Box 97173
Washington, DC 20090-7173

The plea for money is customized for our local community, which is pretty slick. But there is no "local" chapter here, so it is just a ploy to make it seem more legitimate.

A few warning signs:

They state that the "donation" is not tax deductible. This should raise a caution flag.

They use "scare mailing" to solicit funds. See: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/21/senior-citizens-group-ple_n_328344.html

This is the same group that sends out solicitations for "donations" for the "Notch" issue. See: http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Notch+octogenarians+should+beware+of+Social+Security+scam.-a0181614553 and http://waysandmeans.house.gov/legacy/socsec/107cong/7-26-01/7-26klec.htm

This organization has been associated with previous scams. See http://www.madison.mt.gov/departments/sheriffs_office/SO_Msg/SeniorCitzScams.pdf

The original corporation, The Retired Enlisted Association (TREA), Inc., was incorporated in Colorado as a nonprofit organization.

For the BBB report: http://www.bbb.org/charity-reviews/national/elderly/trea-senior-citizens-league-in-alexandria-va-1628 You will see that they raised $9 million through these mailings.

The use of scare tactics and misleading statements to raise "donations" (that are not tax deductible) is simply trying to take advantage of the elderly. At $10 a piece, they got money from 900,000 elderly in 2008 (primarily from their Notch scare newsletter).